Copenhagen (energate) – Drones are increasingly being used in the operation and maintenance of wind and solar farms. In order to make the service logistics around its offshore wind farms more climate-friendly, the Danish energy company Ørsted is currently testing the use of cargo drones. The aim of the test series is also to make maintenance intervals more efficient in general and thus also to save costs, it was said at the start of the project a few weeks ago. Ørsted’s partners in the project include the Danish logistics group DSV and the Swiss start-up Rigitech as aircraft manufacturers.

Their unmanned cargo drone is designed for a payload of up to 2.5 kg. It flies electrically, has a range of up to 100 km and is supposed to be able to withstand wind forces of up to 15 metres per second. In line with the decarbonisation goal of the test series, the partners operate the drones with green electricity during the test flights. On the road, the drones are fully autonomous and automated via cloud-based software. However, the flights are remotely monitored from Copenhagen by Holo, another Danish specialist company.

Maintenance operations should become more efficient

The test is intended to show whether the aircraft can complement the service and maintenance missions that are usually carried out mostly by ship. “At Ørsted, we are constantly looking for new ways to minimise wind turbine downtime and increase electricity generation from renewable energy,” says Klaus Baggesen Hilger, Head of Operations Digital & Innovation at Ørsted. It would be possible to transport individual components or special tools needed for maintenance work. The aircraft will be used at the Danish offshore wind farm Anholt. Completed in 2013, the 400 MW capacity Baltic Sea wind farm, consisting of 111 Siemens 3.6 MW class wind turbines, is located 15 kilometres off the east coast of Denmark and 20 kilometres from the island of Anholt in the Kattegat. In a first step, the drones were initially tested on a 25-kilometre route from the offshore wind farm’s operating base in Grenaa harbour to the offshore substation.

Drones make their way into the energy industry

The use of drones is no longer new territory in the energy industry. EnBW in Karlsruhe has already tested their use for offshore wind power. In addition, grid operators are already using the technology for inspection flights. In 2021, transmission grid operator 50 Hertz started a test series with autonomously flying AI-based drones. The oil company Total is using drone technology to detect methane emissions from oil and gas production. And Eon used drones equipped with cameras to record flood damage in the distribution network of Westenergie caused by the 2021 floods in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate. /pa

Source: https://www.energate-messenger.com/news/224309/autonomous-drones-in-offshore-maintenance-operations